With cooler days are around the corner, the celebs are folding away their summer whites and sundresses (or, more likely, having their assistants do so), and test driving looks for fall. Stars like Reese Witherspoon, Katie Holmes, and Sabrina Carpenter have all cast their votes on the leading denim trend of autumn 2024, wearing wide-leg jeans and denim dresses. And today, Ashley Graham is putting her money on leopard print for pattern of the season.
The model was photographed walking in Midtown Manhattan on Monday, August 12, sporting a skin-tight, calf-length, leopard print dress with long sleeves and a turtleneck—a little premature in 76-degree weather, but glamorous nonetheless. Graham completed the outfit with a pair of flat metallic gold sandals with the über-trendy toe loop detail, plus black angular cat-eye sunglasses and big, bejeweled silver hoop earrings.
Last month, she showed off her summer street style in a white, strapless semi-sheer crochet midi dress from Simkhai, matched to white-framed oval shades and white gold-chained sandal heels. A few weeks prior, Graham attended a Balenciaga show at Paris Haute Couture Week in a black, slit-leg velvet gown, a broad-shouldered floor-length blazer, and strappy black heels.
Today's look is a noted departure from the polished, monochrome outfits of weeks past. Graham's leopard print moment introduces a pinch of playfulness to her wardrobe, while still maintaining her sleek and sophisticated style.
Leopard print is poised to make a comeback for fall 2024. But did it ever really leave? Back in June, Jennifer Lawrence and Dior were ahead of the wave. Lawrence attended Dior’s Cruise 2025 runway show wearing a leopard print fur wrap coat from the collection.
It seems like every other year the pattern re-emerges as a trend. After dominating culture in the late '90s and early 2000s, spots crawled back onto the runway around Fall/Winter 2016, with luxury houses like Prada, Moschino, and Dolce & Gabbana incorporating the iconic print on fur coats and dresses. Flash forward a few years to the inescapable leopard print midi by Realisation Par that took over 2019, when every woman from the city to the suburbs owned the same silk skirt. Maybe Graham's form-fitting leopard print turtleneck dress is the next It Item, too.
